Thill-coupling.



G. N. JACKSON.

THILL (TQUPLIITG.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.11, 190s.

Patented Mar. 9, 1909.

anoewto'b 0, WASHINGTON. 0, c.

UNTTED %TATES CLIFFORD N. JACKSON, OF OANBY, CALIFORNIA.

THILL-COUPLING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 9, 1909.

Application filed August 11, 1906. Serial No. 330,145.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLIFFORD N. J AOKSON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Canby, in the county of Modoc, State of California,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Thill-Couplings;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to thill couplings and has for one of its objectsto simplify and improve the construction and increase the efficiency andutility of devices of this character.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simply constructeddevice of this character consisting in the base portion of a thill clipand the thill holding portion constructed from one single piece of sheetmetal.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certainnovel features of construction as hereafter shown and described and thenspecifically pointed out in the claims, and in the drawings illustrativeof the preferred embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 is a sectionalside elevation of the improved device applied to a vehicle axle andlikewise coupled to a pole or thill iron. Fig. 2 is a perspective viewof the improved device detached. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the couplingend of the thill iron and bolt. Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 ofFig. 1.

The improved device is formed from a single piece of sheet metal,preferably steel, and comprises a base or body portion which constitutesthe base portion of the clip whereby the device is attached to the axlerepresented at 22, the member 10 being secured to the axle by the usualU-shaped member 28. The member 10 rojects forwardly of the axle 22 andis olded upon itself at 12 to form a rib and thence extended downwardlyat 24 and thence upwardly at 13 to form a socket to receive a bolt 14,which is preferably square within the socket and with rounded endsbeyond the socket to receive the forked ends 21 of a thill or tongueiron 15 as shown in Fig. 3. By this means it will be obvious that thebolt 14 is arranged within the socket and prevented from rotatingtherein while the thill or tongue iron is free to rotate upon the bolt.

The strip of sheet metal from which the device is constructed extendsfor a con siderable distance rearwardly of the axle 22 and is wider thanthe forward portion and is bent downwardly and thence curved forwardlyas sh wn at 11 and thence extended upwardly and provided with arelatively large aperture 1.8 which fits over the forward portion of thestrip rearwardly of the folded portion 12 and with the portion of thestrip in advance of the aperture 18 reduced in width at 19 and passedthrough a slot 16 in the folded portion 12 and likewise through a slot17 in the terminal 13 of the strip, the portion 19 thus bearing over theupper face of the bolt 14, as shown.

By this simple means a simply constructed device is produced, which maybe inexpensively manufactured and which firmly supports the thill ironin position while leaving it free to be oscillated.

To connect and disconnect the bolt 14 it is only necessary to compressthe curved por tion 11 of the strip rearwardly or toward the axle todetach the tongue 19 from the member 13 and withdraw its terminal intothe slot 16, and to dispose the bolt 14 within the socket the samemovement is repeated, the relatively large aperture 18 permitting thismovement of the curved portion 11 and its tongue 19, as will be obvious.The resiliency of the curved portion 1 1 maintains the tongue 19 inposition and prevents all rattling or looseness, as will be obvious.

The terminal of the tongue 19 is provided with lateral projections asshown, to reduce the tendency of accidental displacement of the tongue.

What is claimed, is

1. A thill coupling formed from a strip of resilient metal with ahorizontal intermediate portion and having a bearing for a bolt benttherein at one end and with alining slots in the sides of the bearingand bent downwardly and curved forwardly and upwardly at the other endand provided with an aperture and a reduced terminal tongue, theaperture to engage over the bolt bearing and the tongue to pass throughthe alined slots.

2. A thill coupling formed from a single strip of resilient metal with ahorizontal intermediate portion and bent upon itself near one end toform an upwardly directed rib and bent in advance of the rib into a boltre ceiving socket, said rib and the outer wall of 3 4;

the socket having transverse slots and the portion of the strip at theother side of the 5 attachable to an axle, its front end portionextending forwardly of the axle and provided with upwardly extendingspaced flanges, each flange provided with a transverse slot, and asprlng portlon curved down- I wardly beneath the horizontal portion and15 thence upwardly to the front end of the horizontal portion, thespring portion provided with an o ening through which the end of thehorizontal portion is passed, and a horizontally extended tongue havinglateral projec- 2o tions at its sides and passed through the flangeapertures. o

In testimony whereof, I afliX my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

CLIFFORD N. JACKSON. Witnesses L. W. JAcKsoN, L. S. SMITH.

